Gary Johnson was forced into one change to the side that saw off Bristol Rovers last weekend, with Scott Guyett coming into the side for club captain Terry Skiverton who was serving a single suspension. Guyett was coming up against the side he left for Yeovil, and the only other change was that Darren Way took over the skipper duties.

Chester had proved to be one of the most ugly physical sides to visit Yeovil in recent years when the two sides met in October, picking up five yellow cards and a long string of cynical fouls. But there was hope that the Deva Stadium game would be a far cleaner affair, with one of the chief protagonists in the home fixture - Cortez Belle - serving a suspension for his third red card of the season.

Some hope! From the second the game kicked off, it was pretty obvious what sort of tactics Chester had set out to play, with Kevin Gall getting clattered with a thigh high tackle by Sean Hessey with less than three minutes on the clock. The Glovers are usually slow starters so it was pleasing to note the positive way that they set about the game with the wind at their backs, despite Chester flying in with arms, legs and elbows at every possible moment.

On-loan Liverpool winger Robbie Foy forced Chris Weale into an excellent save inside the first ten minutes but just a couple of minutes later, the Glovers drew first blood. Lee Johnson thumped a free kick into the box from close to the dugouts and when Bartosz Tarachulski headed the ball back to the edge of the area, it was teed up perfectly for Arron DAVIES to crash a shot into the back of the net, leaving the Chester defence mesmorised by the speed and simplicity at which they'd been undone. A well deserved lead based on the early play.

Colin Miles had been clattered by Robbie Foy early on and after attempting to carry on, ultimately found that impossible and with his knee giving out, a stretcher had to be called for, and Kevin Amankwaah was drafted in to play in the centre of defence.

The Glovers were well on top despite losing Miles so early and were doing well to keep their football on track despite all the provocation. Kevin Gall paired up with Andy Lindegaard on the right wing, setting Lindy up nicely on the overlap and as the ball was rolled along the byline by the right-back, he cut it back to Phil Jevons who teed up Kevin Gall. The winger's shot went wide, but what it was showing was that Chester weren't getting within a mile of Yeovil's passing.

A touch of handbags broke out midway through the first half when Bartosz Tarachulski and Chester's Stewart Drummond went up for a header and the latter went down clutching his face. Chester's players took that as an opportunity to get as many pushes and shoves on Bartosz as they possibly could and after the melee had calmed down, Bartosz was booked for the foul, whilst Darren Edmondson was also carded for being one of the Chester players to lay into Bartosz after the whistle had blown. Strangely after the referees scribbling in his notebook, Drummond made one of the quickest recoveries known to man.

After 32 minutes though, a dominant Yeovil doubled their lead. A long throw from Michael Rose was knocked back into the path of Darren Way by Phil Jevons. Way seemed to be fouled, but as the loose ball ran forward to Jevons, the Yeovil player was quick to react and on reaching the penalty box, nudged the ball a yard forward and was chopped down by Chester's Richard Hope. A clear foul, with the only debating point worth considering was whether the tackle was inside the box or not. Video replays later tended to support the referee's decision and Phil JEVONS doubled Yeovil's lead by sending Wayne Brown the wrong way.

Yeovil nearly grabbed a third when Kevin Amankwaah headed down a Lee Johnson corner but Phil Jevons fired just over the bar. The half ended with another attack of Chester thuggery, with Robbie Foy receiving the yellow card he should have received earlier with another awful foul - this time on Scott Guyett. Whilst some football teams are overly competitive, some are late with their tackles through not being able to keep up with the pace of the opposition, and some are just plain clumsy, it was dreadful to see an opposition play football in such a style - seemingly going out of their way to leave the boot in. Whether this was to try and rough up the opposition, or to provoke them into a stupid retaliation it was difficult to tell, but it was so widespread it had to have been an instruction from the dressing room and it was a miracle that no-one had risen to the home side's baiting.

Three minutes into the second half, Robbie Foy really should have been straight down the tunnel for his third dreadful foul of the afternoon but somehow all Foy got was a final warning. It just didn't seem possible that the home side would finish the afternoon with eleven men. They had made a double substitution to try and stem the flow with Ashley Sestanovich a familiar face, having scored against Yeovil at Huish Park when playing for Grimsby Town.

Despite that early foul from Foy, Chester seemed to have come out of the dressing room with slightly better composure. Whilst their play was still on the dirty side, they attempted to play a little more, and you had to wonder whether referee Carl Boyeson had paid them a visit during the half time break.

Chris Weale had a nasty moment when Chester striker Taiwo Atieno charged down a backpass Weale was clearing, but Kevin Amankwaah rescued the ricochet and cleared the ball away. Yeovil were just a little bit too casual in their start to the second half, taking 10 minutes or so to settle into their rhythm, with a few passes going astray.

This was a far more cautious display by Yeovil, firmly keeping two banks of four behind the ball and only breaking with the wingers when they had possession. Chester got plenty of possession with the wind now favouring them, but knew little of how to deal with it, mainly relying on deflected shots from distance as their best attempts on goal. Whilst there was a strong wind, it was going to take some shot to get past Chris Weale from the 35 yards distance that was mainly being attempted by the likes of Stewart Drummond and Sean Hessey with Wealey looking comfortable. In the main Chester's shooting from distance was simply dreadful with Paul Carden's long-ranger from the left side of the penalty area actually ending up closer to the left corner flag than the goal itself much to the delight and jeers of the travelling Yeovil fans.

With 20 minutes to go, Gary Johnson re-organised with Paul Terry replacing Phil Jevons and Kevin Gall going up front to inject a bit of pace into the front line. That nearly paid off with a third goal after Lee Johnson set him up, but Wayne Brown made an excellent save, parrying Gally's drive for a corner.

Robbie Foy produced another half-chance from distance that looped a bit in the wind, but Wealey was more than equal to it at the foot of his post, and this was turning into a comfortable afternoon for the Glovers, soaking up Chester's fairly lame attempts to penetrate the Yeovil defence, then hitting them on the break. And their task was made all the more easier when Darren Edmondson - already on a yellow card - stupidly clattered Arron Davies after the midfielder had played the ball off field. Unlike Foy there was to be no leniency by referee Boyeson and Chester were down to ten men, taking away any faint hopes they had of rescuing the game.

Chester did manage one very late chance to provide an injury time showdown, when Foy took advantage of a 50 yard lobbed ball into the Yeovil penalty box that was allowed to bounce, but he spurned Chester's one and only golden second half chance by scooping the ball over the bar.

Three valuable points secured then, by a wonderfully disciplined Yeovil side. After the usual flamboyant first half performance, the Glovers produced a rare closed-shop attitude to the game, and Chester didn't know what to do. That only one player exited the field is nothing short of a miracle with probably the worst thuggery seen in any of Yeovil's first 78 Football League games so far. But the Glovers refused to be wound up and that aspect of their game was typified when in a rare moment of weakness, Andy Lindegaard looked to be about to react to a bad Chester foul down by the touchline when Scott Guyett - who had an outstanding game - did the right thing and hauled Lindy away from the situation making it clear that none of his team-mates were going to lower themselves to Chester's standards.

MOTM Vote Result:

Player MOTM Score Scott Guyett 17 673 Bartosz Tarachulski 3 280 Arron Davies 2 193 Phil Jevons 4 167 Kevin Amankwaah 1 153 Darren Way 2 127 Andy Lindegaard - 73 Chris Weale 1 67

Overall match rating: 6.6 / 10
Performance: 7.2
Entertainment: 6.1

30 votes received.

Any comments/questions please email [email protected]

Back to Top of Page